Long ago, before organized crime and pay-per-view, boxing was a simple sport.

Somebody would prove to be champion of their class, and one-by-one would take on the challengers.

Since the late 1990s, Michigan State has essentially held the title as the best basketball program in the Big Ten. One-by-one, the Spartans have thwarted off challenges. While other programs have had their moments, the one constant has been Michigan State and its coach, Tom Izzo, at the top.

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Last Tuesday, Michigan, which rose to the rank of No.1 in the country earlier this season, challenged the Spartans' throne at the Breslin Center. The Wolverines were collectively knocked out with such force they were still stumbling around the canvas during a closer-than-anticipated victory over Big Ten bottom feeder Penn State at home on Sunday.

This Tuesday, top-ranked Indiana doesn't figure to capitulate to the moment like the Wolverines while taking on the Spartans at the Breslin Center. In fact, Indiana has already beaten MSU this season, but this game will be for more validation.

Indiana in the role of Big Ten basketball challenger may seem odd. The Hoosiers entered this season as the consensus No. 1 team in the nation. Indiana's basketball tradition is deep, particularly the Bobby Knight era. The Hoosiers won three national championships between 1976 and 1987. But Indiana wasn't quite the same in the latter years of the Knight era, which ended in disgrace. Mike Davis, in the aftermath of Knight's tarnished legacy, did lead the Hoosiers to an improbable run to the national title game in 2002 (Clarkston's Dane Fife, one of Izzo's assistants, played a prominent role on that team). Then, there were extremely tough times. Coach Kelvin Sampson, got caught up in recruiting scandal, and Indiana dropped to depths no one could have possibility imagined - 8-46 in Big Ten play over a three-year period after Tom Crean was brought in to pick up the pieces.

It's been a remarkable transformation, which began, in essence, with an upset of Kentucky early last season. It was one of only two games eventual national champion Kentucky lost all season. It put Indiana basketball quickly back on the map. The Hoosiers didn't lose a game early last season until being beaten soundly at MSU in its Big Ten opener.

Cody Zeller emerged as the best player in college basketball coming into this season, but in actuality his teammate, Victor Oladipo, has been better. Indiana has experience in Christian Watford, great long-range shooting with Jordan Hulls, and feature a super freshman, Yogi Ferrell. The Hoosiers are a terrific team, one that has had a couple slips this season, but is worthy of their top ranking.

Oh, and Michigan State is creeping up. The Spartans are No.4 in the latest AP poll, and you could make a strong case they deserve to be No.1. Certainly, no team has meshed as well.

Each squad is 11-2 in the Big Ten. Throw the in-state rivalry part out of the equation, and Tuesday's Indiana-MSU game is even more compelling than last week's Michigan-MSU encounter.

A couple things: It's doubtful Indiana will roll over like Michigan did. Crean has a strong pedigree. He was once Izzo's top assistant. Nobody understands the magnitude of what the Hoosiers are facing, and as importantly, the Spartans' unrelenting style of play when the spotlight is this bright, more than Crean. He was Dwyane Wade's coach at Marquette. John and Jim Harbaugh are his brother in laws.

This is a signature game for Crean's program. Indiana will likely be exceptionally prepared for it. You know the Spartans will be under Izzo.